NZAGRC Annual Report 2018
Determining levels of soil carbon storage
22/11/18
An experiment was designed and conducted using a novel 13C stable isotope method to determine how the stabilisation capacity and saturation deficit of different soils affects their ability to store more carbon. Research was also completed...
Farm systems: Dairy
22/11/18
The dairy part of the programme involves the design of a cohesive and targeted communications and extension programme that provides the dairy industry with the information required to begin addressing its GHG emissions. The programme will build...
Farm systems: Sheep and Beef
22/11/18
The sheep and beef part of the programme is designed to provide new insights into GHG emissions from the sheep and beef sector by assessing the drivers of emissions for at least 100 real sheep and beef farms, representing all 8 B+LNZ farm classes,...
Feasibility study for methane capture
22/11/18
A feasibility study of a novel mechanism for capturing and breaking down methane was completed at the start of 2017/18. The aim of this study was to test the practicality of capturing methane emitted from housed cattle and stored animal waste, and...
Impact of importing feed
22/11/18
Parallel work at a nearby farm calculated carbon balances for three years for a farm with very high feed imports (about 12 tonnes dry matter or 5.3 tonnes of carbon per hectare, per year). The majority of the imported feed was converted back to...
Important finding in sheep vaccination trials
22/11/18
During 2017/18, a sheep vaccination trial, including measurement of methane emissions, was conducted and all vaccinated animals produced antibodies against each of the 19 protein/protein fusions present in the mix of recombinant proteins. This is...
Investigating plantain properties
22/11/18
An animal feeding trial conducted in association with the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching programme, investigating the ability of plantain to modify nitrogen processes in animals and soils, was a major focus this year. The aim was to assess...
Irrigation effects modelled
22/11/18
The CenW model developed for Waikato farms was compared against three years of eddy-covariance data from an irrigated grazed pasture in the Canterbury region. CenW was used to compare three irrigation management scenarios: no irrigation (dairy...
Large impact of land use change
22/11/18
The largest impact on reducing GHG emissions was achieved via land use change into forestry. Both enterprises had targeted increased areas of forestry planting on their sheep & beef farms. Both enterprises also have an issue in that they have...
Low Methane trait looks positive for meat and milk
22/11/18
Preliminary analysis showed that there are differences between the lines in fat and lean proportions of carcass. Additional detailed meat quality measures on a subset of ram lambs show that the low methane animals had no difference in...
Māori programme 2017/18
22/11/18
During 2017/18 the project has: • Identified two multi-enterprise Māori operations, incorporating dairy, sheep and beef and forestry operations, willing to allow modelling of farm system and land use change to identify impacts of reducing...
Methane: Inhibitors
22/11/18
NZAGRC involvement in the inhibitor programme did not continue in 2017/18. It is now solely funded by the PGgRc as the lead commercialising partner.
Positive results for novel nitrous oxide inhibitors
22/11/18
An initial study to determine the impact of a novel inhibitor was conducted in 2017/18. After 36 days urine from treated animals had 50% lower nitrous oxide emissions than untreated animals. This work will be expanded in 2018/19.
Rumen microbes a possibility for sheep selection
22/11/18
Analyses of rumen microbial communities in ewe lambs measured multiple times on cut pasture and lucerne pellets suggest that rumen microbial community composition has the potential to be used to rank animals for prediction of methane.
Sheep breeding for low methane
22/11/18
The sheep breeding programme in 2017/2018 continued to build on developments from earlier years. High/low sheep lines continue to diverge and are currently on average 10% different for methane yield. The lines continue to segregate on maternal...
Significant reductions in GHG emissions possible
22/11/18
Part of the aim of Māori-focussed research programme is to consider the impact of any changes at a whole enterprise level. Mixing and matching the various scenarios modelled indicates that significant gains in reducing GHG emissions (largely due...
Stocks, composition and vulnerability to loss of soil organic carbon predicted using mid-infrared spectroscopy
04/07/18
Baldock, J. A., Beare, M. H., Curtin, D., & Hawke, B. (2018). Stocks, composition and vulnerability to loss of soil organic carbon predicted using mid-infrared spectroscopy. Soil Research, 56(5), 468-480. AbstractDeveloping a routine...
Assessing the vulnerability of organic matter to C mineralisation in pasture and cropping soils of New Zealand
02/07/18
McNally, S., Beare, M., Curtin, D., Tregurtha, C., Qiu, W., Kelliher, F., & Baldock, J. (2018). Assessing the vulnerability of organic matter to C mineralisation in pasture and cropping soils of New Zealand. Soil Research, 56(5), 481-490....
Assessing the impact of non-urea ruminant urine nitrogen compounds on urine patch nitrous oxide emissions
21/06/18
Gardiner, C. A., Clough, T. J., Cameron, K. C., Di, H. J., Edwards, G. R., & de Klein, C. A. M. (2018). Assessing the impact of non-urea ruminant urine nitrogen compounds on urine patch nitrous oxide emissions. Journal of Environmental...
Adapting global shared socio-economic pathways for national and local scenarios
26/05/18
Frame, B., Lawrence, J., Ausseil, A.-G., Reisinger, A., & Daigneault, A. (2018). Adapting global shared socio-economic pathways for national and local scenarios. Climate Risk Management. Abstract Socio-economic scenarios enable us to...
An investigation of organic matter quality and quantity in acid soils as influenced by soil type and land use
10/05/18
Shen, Q., Suarez-Abelenda, M., Camps-Arbestain, M., Calvelo Pereira, R., McNally, S. R., & Kelliher, F. M. (2018). An investigation of organic matter quality and quantity in acid soils as influenced by soil type and land use. Geoderma, 328,...
Genetic parameters of methane emissions determined using portable accumulation chambers in lambs and ewes grazing pasture and genetic correlations with emissions determined in respiration chambers
09/05/18
A Jonker S M Hickey S J Rowe P H Janssen G Shackell S Elmes W E Bain J Wing G J Greer B Bryson S MacLean K G Dodds C S Pinares-Patiño E A Young K Knowler N K Pickering J C McEwan (2018). Genetic parameters of methane emissions determined...
Potential inhibition of urine patch nitrous oxide emissions by Plantago lanceolata and its metabolite aucubin
12/12/17
Gardiner, C. A., Clough, T. J., Cameron, K. C., Di, H. J., Edwards, G. R., & de Klein, C. A. M. (2017). Potential inhibition of urine patch nitrous oxide emissions by Plantago lanceolata and its metabolite aucubin. [Article in Press]. New...
How much do direct livestock emissions actually contribute to global warming?
06/11/17
Reisinger, A. and Clark, H. (), How much do direct livestock emissions actually contribute to global warming?. Glob Change Biol. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/gcb.13975 AbstractAgriculture directly contributes about 10-12% of current...
Soil carbon sequestration potential of permanent pasture and continuous cropping soils in New Zealand
05/10/17
McNally, S. R., Beare, M. H., Curtin, D., Meenken, E. D., Kelliher, F. M., Calvelo Pereira, R.,Baldock, J. (2017). Soil carbon sequestration potential of permanent pasture and continuous cropping soils in New Zealand. Global Change Biology,...
Sheep from low-methane-yield selection lines created on alfalfa pellets also have lower methane yield under pastoral farming conditions
08/09/17
Jonker, A., S. Hickey, C. Pinares-Patiño, J. McEwan, S. Olinga, A. Díaz, G. Molano, S. MacLean, E. Sandoval, R. Harland, D. Birch, B. Bryson, K. Knowler, and S. Rowe. 2017. Sheep from low-methane-yield selection lines created on...
Using alternative forage species to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide from cattle urine deposited onto soil
30/08/17
Luo, J., Balvert, S. F., Wise, B., Welten, B., Ledgard, S. F., de Klein, C. A. M, Lindsey, S., Judge, A. (2018). Using alternative forage species to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide from cattle urine deposited onto soil....
Development of Multiwell-Plate Methods Using Pure Cultures of Methanogens To Identify New Inhibitors for Suppressing Ruminant Methane Emissions
19/05/17
Weimar, M. R., Cheung, J., Dey, D., McSweeney, C., Morrison, M., Kobayashi, Y., . . . Cook, G. M. (2017). Development of Multiwell-Plate Methods Using Pure Cultures of Methanogens To Identify New Inhibitors for Suppressing Ruminant Methane...
